Chariot fire scorches 7,055 acres

Cal Fire says 120 structures were destroyed in the Mount Laguna area

Shriner Donald Wierman wiped his eyes after tearing up while talking about the loss of their mountain retreat. As firefighters gained ground on the Chariot Fire Monday night in to Tuesday, the extent of the damage caused Monday when it jumped Sunrise Highway started becoming clearer. The devastation at the Al Bahr Shriners camp was overwhelming, while the Foster Lodge, which officials had reported as destroyed in an early survey of damages was virtually untouched, but a large building next to the lodge was destroyed.
— John Gibbins

Shriner Donald Wierman wiped his eyes after tearing up while talking about the loss of their mountain retreat. As firefighters gained ground on the Chariot Fire Monday night in to Tuesday, the extent of the damage caused Monday when it jumped Sunrise Highway started becoming clearer. The devastation at the Al Bahr Shriners camp was overwhelming, while the Foster Lodge, which officials had reported as destroyed in an early survey of damages was virtually untouched, but a large building next to the lodge was destroyed.
— John Gibbins

A fast-moving blaze that burned through 120 structures in the Mount Laguna area and scorched 7,055 acres has slowed greatly, with firefighters taking advantage of calmer winds Tuesday to gain more control of the unruly wildfire.

“I did not see any active fire at all today,” Cal Fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser said late in the afternoon. “There’s a lot of smoldering material, a lot of smoke. It’s a good thing — the weather is cooperating with us. We hope it stays like that for the duration.”

By Tuesday night, about 2,100 firefighters had the blaze 40 percent contained.

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On the other side of the two-lane highway, Foster Lodge, owned by the Sierra Club’s San Diego chapter since 1951, survived undamaged, but a smaller cabin was destroyed. Fire officials thought on Monday that the lodge was gone.

The El Prado, Laguna and Horse Heaven campgrounds, which had all been threatened, were apparently spared. Damage inspection teams were expected to go through the area on Wednesday, Cal Fire Capt. Mike Mohler said.

For two days, firefighting efforts focused on Garnet and Monument peaks, where several helicopters dropped water on flames along the eastern slopes. A dozen helicopters and four air tankers were working the blaze.

The Red Cross was providing food and water to the first responders on the fire lines, said agency spokeswoman Courtney Pendleton.

Four people spent Monday night at the Red Cross shelter at Joan MacQueen Middle School in Alpine, including Al and Elizabeth Bispo, who evacuated their cabin south of the Laguna General Store on Sunrise Highway.

The couple, who moved to Texas in 2008 after living in University City for 32 years, bought the cabin about 12 years ago.

“You could see (from the cabin) the smoke billowing up,” Al Bispo said.

They got the call to evacuate about 11 a.m. Monday, loaded their dog Buster into the car and headed to the shelter, where Elizabeth Bispo said she hoped to help as a Red Cross nurse.

Bispo said she has volunteered for the Red Cross at several national disasters since retiring as a nurse in 2008. This was the first time she found herself on the other side of the emergency.

“It is weird for me to think I need help,” she said Tuesday.

The couple said they are not worried about the safety of their cabin — it seemed to be out of the fire’s reach — but they were sad to see the destruction of the area they have loved for so long.

“We know that nature takes its course, but it is hard to live through,” Elizabeth Bispo said.

Firefighters’ biggest concern is getting permanent residents back into their homes, but it was not clear whether that might happen Wednesday, Bortisser said.

All evacuation orders remain in effect, and Sunrise Highway remains closed from Interstate 8 to state Route 79.

The firefighters working the Chariot fire took time Tuesday to pause at 11 a.m. for 30 seconds of radio silence as a memorial service began in Arizona to honor 19 firefighters who died near Prescott.